Forbidden Love
by FMAandWolf'sRain
Summary: Father created the seven deadly sins after himself. What if he created another just to make sure their special sacrifices were safe? Edited. Author's note inside Chapter 1. IMPORTANT. Manga/Brotherhood storyline. OC pairing will come eventually.
1. The Two Alchemists and Meetings

**News: I'm sure to my fellow readers/authors; I have no excuse for not updating in 4 years. I was reading another manga while finishing FMA and got sidetracked, and this lead to not updating. I'M VERY VERY SORRY. I just got back into FMA, because some of my guy friends started watching FMA:Brotherhood. This manga has been published since 2001-2003. I got into the manga since 2005. So for us who seen the original Anime of FMA before Brotherhood; I realized my character was mixed into it. I aimed for this story to stay in the manga story line and not the original anime. Since FMA:Brotherhood is over; the story might mix into the anime. I'll see as the story flows. If you still wish to stay with me on this updated version of the story from then on; you're welcome and please give me critics. I love critics. No flame though. Haha XD If you want to voice out of what you think of this updated version; please feel free. I'm open to hearing anything of what you all think of my updated version of the story.**

**I don't know if anyone haven't noticed in the FullMetal Alchemist fan fiction category on here; there are so many yaoi. O.O' and not a lot of good long fan fiction stories done by other authors on here. _' gah. I just started noticing all of this last week. That week was also when I finally clicked on FullMetal Alchemist. I didn't touch it before, because I knew I had a story; so I held myself back. I went to the other fan fictions: Avengers, Resident Evil; -Man, Spider-Man, Halo, and blah blah blah. So, this is why I decided to start up my story again: Lack of good decent stories for FMA and started getting back into FMA. : )**

**I have FMA Manga from Vol 1. - Vol. 17. I do not have the last 27 volumes of FMA. So, for those who read the manga online; you might find some of the lines picked up.**

**Last: I don't know if you guys can see double titles of each chapter. I'm seeing it and when I try editing it; it's not there..so I don't know. -.-'' It's annoying me that I can't fix it..ugh!**

**My story will have spoilers if you haven't finished the FMA: Brotherhood or the Manga. And I'm rambling. Onto the story, shall we? : D**

** Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

* * *

**Info: **

Name: Deception

Description: She's been created by Father.

Disguise Name: Rain

Age:Unknown

Race: Homunculus

Looks: Black hair. She has bangs framing the right side of her face and the rest held up in a loose bun.

Powers and Skills: Telepathic. Inhumane speed just like the rest of the Homunculi and hand-to-hand combat skills.

Clothes. She wears a black tank top, dark blue jeans with black boots. She has black gloves with the red circle on them. She wears a dark blue light sweater to cover her tank top. The lines extend from her upper back and below her chest.

How she came to Existence: Father decided to have another homunculus for back up and have him/her watch over their Sacrifices.

Info: This takes place in the manga.

Pairings: I'm not sure about Edward anymore. I'm sorry for those who wanted an EdwardxOC. I will see how the story flows and how my character develop. Remember, she's a homunculus; so it'll be hard to tell how my character will go.

* * *

**Chapter One: The Two Alchemists and Meetings**

"Children of god who well on the earth...there is no salvation without prayer and faith. The sun god, Leto will illuminate thy path. Behold! The lord hath descended from his heavenly throne to save thee from all thy sins. For I am thy father...I am the emissary of the sun god...

"A religious broadcast on the radio?" An armor asked.

"Emissary of the sun god? What the heck is that?" A boy that looked around 15 years old with golden blonde hair and gold eyes to match his hair sat in a bar stool. He wore a red trench coat with a weird symobol on the back along with a black long sleeve and black pants with black boots as well.

The bartender looked at them weird. "Actually, I was going to ask the same thing about you two...are you guys street performers or something?"

The blonde teen spewed out his drink. "Hey, wait a minute, pops! What is it that makes you think that we're street performers?"

The bartender sweat dropped. "Well..I mean..what else could you be...?" I haven't seen your faces around here before. On a trip?" He asked.

"Uh-huh. We're trying to track something down. Bye the way, what's this broadcast?"

"You've never heard of Father Cornello?"

"Who?" The blonde sweat dropped.

"Father Cornello, the sun god Leto's Emissary!" The bartender said.

Everyone around them started talking about Father Cornello and his so called great miracles.

The blonde ignored them all while the armor listened and the bartender noticed. "You're not listening are you kid?"

The blonde slouched down in his chair while chewing the straw. "Nope. I'm agnostic." He stood up from his seat. "Thanks for the eats. Let's go."

The armor got up. "Okay." He bumped into the ceiling causing the radio to fall and break into pieces.

The bartender freaked out. "Oops." The armor said looking at the broken radio.

"Hey! Could you please be more careful, sir? Frankly, you shouldn't walk around wearing that suit...!" The blonde interrupted.

"Our bad. Don't worry, we're fix it right away." He said holding up a hand.

The bartender scratch his head. "You think you can fix it...?"

"Just sit back and watch." The blonde said while the armor drew a circle around the broken radio.

"Okay all set. Here we go..." He put his hands out and activated the circle.

BOOM! "Wha..?" The bartender and the others gasped around. The smoke cleared to reveal a fixed radio.

"How's that?" The blonde asked pointing to the radio.

"That...That's amazing!" The radio continued. "Can you work miracles?!" He asked.

"Miracles?" The blonde asked sweat dropping. "We're just alchemists." The armor said.

"We're the elric brothers. A lot of people have heard of us."

Everyone soon realized and they all started talking about them. "They say the older brother is a state alchemist they call... The FullMetal Alchemist, Edward Elric!"

Everyone crowded around the armor guy while the blonde guy just showed a pissed off look. "Uh, no...it's not me. It's him!" The armor said gesturing toward Edward. "You mean the little guy?"

Edward popped a vein. "I'M NOT LITTLE! DON'T CALL ME MIDGET! OR SHORTY! OR SHRIMP!" He yelled pissed off scaring the people.

"I'm the younger brother, Alphonse Elric." The armor, Alphonse pointed to himself. "It's ME!I'm the "FullMetal Alchemist"! Edward Elric!" Edward said with two veins and had pointed to himself.

Everyone was on the ground startled and scared from his outburst. "Sorry about that..."

They heard running footsteps. "Good day, sir. My, you're today." The bartender looked up. "Oh, hello, Rose." The young woman stopped infront. "Going o the temple today?" The bartender asked?

"Uh-huh, with some offerings. The usual please." She said taking some money out. She noticed Edward and Alphonse. "Oh, some new faces." She said. Edward and Alphonse said hello. "Yeah, they alchemists...they say they're looking for something." The bartender said putting stuff inside the bag and handing the bag to Rose. "I hope you find what you're searing for. May Leto bless you!" She said and walked away.

"Rose's become so happy lately." One of the customers said. "Uh-huh, and it's all thanks to the father."

"Huh?" Edward asked confused. "Not only does that girl have no family, but she lost her boyfriend last year in an accident." The bartender said. "It was hard to see her so sad. I felt really bad for her." "That's when she was saved by Father Cornello. He taught her about the sun god, Leto." "Preach on! he rases the dead and the souls of his faithful live forever. Cornello's miracles prove it." "You should see them for yourself! IT's definitely the power of god!"

"Raise the dead huh?...I don't like the sound of that." Edward muttered.

_'They're really here...' _A figure thought from behind the building watching the two Elric brothers walk away from the group of people. They turned away and hid into the shadows to find a way to follow them.

- **The church** -

"And the grace of his light shall shine upon all of his children."

- click -

" A fine sermon your holiness." A man dressed in church clothing complimented with politeness toward a bald man as he walked forward to present him a drink.

"Yes, thank you, your holiness! An honor to hear you preach." Another one said.

"Your holiness!" The three men looked over to see Rose.

"Oh, it's you, Rose. My, so dedicated! you're an example to us all." The holiness said.

Rose smiled. "No, I'm just doing my duty. Um...by the way, father. When will you be able to...?"

The man nodded. "yes, I know what it is you ask. God has seen your good deeds." He said smiling.

"Then..." Rose started, but the man put a hand on her shoulder. "But it is not yet time**, **Rose. You understand, don't you? Hmm?" The man asked giving her a smile?

"Yes, father. You're right...Not yet..." She said as her hopes gone down a bit.

"That's good girl, Rose." The father said. Rose turned away, but she didn't know he had an evil look on his face unnoticed by others.

**- Inside the church below **-

Rose walked in to see Edward and Alphonse. "Oh, you two again!" She said happy to see them.

Ed and Al saw her. "Are you going to join the church of Leto?" She asked. Ed looked at the statue again. "Naw...sorry, but I'm not religious." Edward said smiling.

"That's not a real answer! If you believe in god, you can live with hope and gratitude every day. It's wonderful! If you have faith, you'll grow taller for sure!" She exclaimes as a Miracles Do Happen sign showed above her head...

"What was that?!" Edward asked with angry veins showing on his face. "Easy, easy Edward. She's not saying it to be mean." Alphonse said trying to calm Edward. Edward gave a scowl and sat down in the front row.

"Sheesh! How can you honestly believe in these things? Ed asked. "Do you really believe that if you pray to god the dead will come back to life?"

Rose closed her eyes. "Yes. I do!" Edward sighed again. He took out a book.

"Water: 35 Liters. Carbon: 20 gG. Ammonia: 4 Liters. Lime: 1.5 Kg. Phosphorus: 800 grams. Salt: 250 grams. Saltpeter: 100 grams. Sulfur: 80 grams. Fluorine: 7.5 grams. Iron: 5 grams. Silicon: 3 grams and 15 other elements in small quantities..."

Rose had a confused look on his face. "...Huh?"

"That's the total chemical makeup of the average adult body. Modern science knows all of this, but there has never been a single example of successful human transmutation. It's like there's some missing have been trying to find it for hundreds of years, pouring tons of money into research, and to this day they don't have a theory. They say science is a lost cause, but I think it's better than sitting around praying and waiting for something to happen."

"For that matter, the elements found in a human being are all junk that you can buy in any market with a child's allowance. Humans are pretty cheaply made." Edward said laughing. "Aha ha ha!"

"People are not objects!That's an insult to the creator! God will punish you for saying things like that!" Rose exclaimed a angrily.

Edward laughed again. He calmed down after another moment. "Alchemists are scientists. We don't believe in improvable concepts like "god." Rose "hmph"

"We strive to uncover the principles of creation in the matter of this world to pursue truth...it's ironic that we scientists...who don't believe in god...are in a sense that closest things to him." Edward said looking at the picture of Leto.

"What pride...are you saying that you are god's equal?" Rose asked still angry that Edward insulted the god.

"Well...it's like that myth about the hero. He made wings out of wax so he could fly...but when he go too close to the sun...to god," Ed corrected. "The wax melted and he crashed to the ground." Ed said.

Rose had a question mark over her head. Edward got up. "Well, let's go Al." Ed said walking toward the door. "Okay, big brother." Al said following Edward.

Unknown to them, three shadowed figures were up on top of the ledge near the ceiling to conceal themselves from being seen. The smaller one was sitting on the ledge and swinging her legs, the other two stood by each other.

"When are you going to make your move?" Another figure said from the side in the shadows. The taller one lifted her hand to move her hair while the small, larger one drooled at the humans down below.

"Leave me alone. I'll figure it out." The younger one said. She stood up and walked away. "Don't get in my way." She muttered and left the two figures.

"Let's go." The woman said after a moment looking where the younger one was standing and went the opposite direction while the larger one looked conflicted.

"What about-" He started, but the other one interrupted. "Leave her be. She said don't get her way." She said and continued on while the larger one followed a bit upset.

* * *

- **Next day** -

The entire town gathered in front of the church. "Hurray!" Everyone in the crowd cheered as the father transmuted or did another miracle believes in. The transmuted a rose into a sunflower. In the back of crowd, Edward and Alphonse were inspecting the so called miracles.

"What do you think?" Edward asked. "That kind of transmutation has to be alchemy." Al said. "That's what I thought too." Edward said agreeing. "But what about the laws...?" Al asked.

A person not too far noticed them. Rose saw Ed and Al watching as well. "So, you came to see him after all! See!? He does have miraculous powers. Father Cornello is the sun god's, child." Rose exclaimed.

"Naw, that's alchemy, no matter how you look at it. Cornello's a fraud." Edward said. Rose had a anime vein pop. "But he can bypass the laws for some reason." Al stated. "Yeah...that's the problem right there." Ed said scratching the back of his head. "What laws?" Rose asked.

"Most people think that alchemy can do anything and create whatever you want, but in reality there are certain concrete laws. I guess two big concepts are The Law of Conservation of Mass" and "The Law of Natural Providence." Although some alchemist conjure with the four elements, or with the three principles." Al said.

Rose had question marks flying around her. "Um..Let me try..." Al said pondering for a moment. "A substance can only be created from the same type of substance. For example, if something's mostly water, you can only use it to make other things with the attributes of water." Al said as Ed cut in.

"In other words, the basics of alchemy is the "Equivalent Exchange." "That means to obtain something, something of equal value must be lost. But that old guy is making too much out of too little...alchemy-wise, that's breaking the law." Edward said.

"See? So why don't you two just have faith that it's a miracle already?!" Alphonse looked at the ring he had on his left middle finger. "Big brother..Do you think?" Alphonse asked. "Yeah, I do." Edward said. "I think we've found it."

The figure shadowed behind the man behind smiled. _'I guess it'll be over for the old man soon.'_ She thought. She took her hood down to reveal her hair in half bun and half down. She doubled check to make sure she was presented in a normal fashion and headed over the trio.

"Excuse me miss?" She asked walking up to Rose. "I wish to speak to his holiness. Can you take me to him after this?" She asked. "Yes. Are you a traveler as well?" Rose asked smiling. "Yes." The girl nodded. "Okay. Follow me after this okay? I'll take you to father Cornello." The girl nodded.

"Hey lady, I'm starting to get interested in this religion! I'd love to speak to his holiness. Do you think you could take me to him too?" Edward said giving her a cheesy grin. "Oh my! So you're finally starting to believe!" Rose exclaimed happily.

The black haired girl gave a small smile. She walked up to the armor. "May I know your name?" She asked. "Oh, I'm Alphonse Elric." The armor said giving a small bow. "And I'm Edward Elric, Al's older brother. I'm also known as the FullMetal Alchemist." Edward said pointing to himself with pride. The girl smiled. "Nice to meet you. My name is Rain." She said.

Later, the three followed Rose. Alphonse and Edward were talking to Rain about alchemy. Apparently Rain only knew a little bit of alchemy, but never tried performing alchemy.

- **The church** -

"Your holiness, there are some people here who are requesting an audience with you. It's a boy, a man in a suit of armor and a girl with black hair. The boys said they're the Elric brothers and the girl said her name is Rain."

Cornello turned away from his tea. "I'm busy, send them away. Wait, hold on. The Elric brothers? Edward Elric!?" Cornello asked shocked. "Yes, it was the boy who called himself that...do you know him?"

"Aaggh! This is bad! IT's Edward Elric...The Fullmetal Alchemist!" "Wha...but he's a little brat, only this high! You're joking right!?" Cray asked. "Fool! Alchemical skill has nothing to do with age! I had heard that he obtained the title of state alchemist at age 12. So...the rumors about this brat were really true." Cornello said troubled. "What is a state alchemist doing here!? Could it be that our plan..." Cray started, but Cornello cut him off.

"It seems the dogs of the military have good noses." Cornello said. "Shall we chase them away?" Cray asked. "No, that would cause more suspicion. And even if we did chase them away, they'd come back...and bring more. Let's just say...they never came here. The girl may not be from the military, but she's with the Elric brothers. Get rid of her too. How does that sound?" Cray noticed the evil look. "It shall be as god wills." Cray said smirking.

- **The doors** -

"Please come this way. His holiness is very busy, so it's not easy to get an audience with him. You two are very lucky." Cray said leading the way.

Rain and Rose were walking behind Edward. Al turned to look behind to see the doors slammed closed.

"I'll try not to talk for too long." Edward said.

"Yes, let's end it right away. Like this!" Cray said pointing the gun at Al's left eye. He shot causing the helmet to fly away and land as the armor land on the ground with a bang. Edward looked shocked along with Rose and Rain. Edward tried making his way to Cray, but was stopped by two guards sticking their staff like an "x" in front of him. Rain ran toward Al and kneeled next to him.

"Brother Cray! What are you doing!" Rose cried.

"Rose, these are heathens that were trying to entrap his holiness. They're evil." "What?! But his holiness would never let you do this...Let you..." She was cut off.

"He did allow it! The words of his holiness are the words of god. This is the will of god!" Cray said pointing the gun toward Rain and Edward. "Rain has nothing to do with us!" Edward said shielding himself in front of her.

"Hmm. Guess there's some really bad gods out there." A hand gripped the gun upward from shooting at Edward and Rain. "WHA?!" Cray yelled shocked.

Edward grabbed the guy from his right and rammed him into the ground. Then he grabbed Al's helmet and hit the other guard in the head knocking him unconscious. "All right! Strike!" Edward said with thumbs up. "My head!" Al said angrily. Edward ignored Al and walked over to Rain and helped her up. "You alright?" He asked. Rain nodded.

"Wh...wh..whw.. What is is this?!" Rose asked shocked pointing at the empty Al.

"Nothing special." Edward said knocking Al's pointed armor chest plate. Rain looked at him in amazement on the other side of Al. "It's just what it looks like." Al said pointing to himself and kneeling over to reveal an empty suit of armor.

"There's nothing inside! It's empty!?" Rose said gasping as Alphonse put his helmet back on. "You might say...that this is what happens when you commit the greatest sin...when you trespass in god's domain. My big brother and I both..."

"You too...Edward?" Rose asked as Rain waited for the answer as well. "Well, let's just save that story for another time." Edward said scratching his head. "Anyway, I guess your god showed his true colors." Edward said changing the subject.

"No! It has to be some kind of mistake!" Rose said refusing to believe that he let Cray to kill Edward, Alphonse and Rain. "Aww, man...She's seen all this and she still believes in "his phoniness"? Edward said as two anime veins popped up on his face.

"Rose...Do you have the courage to face the truth?" Edward asked as Al stood by him. Rose gulped and didn't say anything.

Rain went over to stand beside them. "Stay behind us Rain." Al said. Rain nodded and hid behind them. They made their way to the room where Cornello was suppose to be. "Let's see..." Edward started, but the door opened. The doors opened wide open. "Hmph. I guess that means "come on in." Edward said.

The three made their way in. As soon as they were inside, the doors slammed shut.

"Welcome to the church of the Great Leto." Someone said from the side in the darkness. Edward, Alphonse and Rain looked to side to reveal Cornello as the lights lit up. "Did you come to hear me preach? Hmm?" Cornello asked.

"Yeah, by all means teach us. Like about how you use your lame alchemy to deceive your followers!" Edward said smirking.

"Well...I'm not sure what you mean. Please don't confuse my miracles with alchemy." Cornello said innocently. "If you saw for yourself you'd believe..." Cornello started, but Edward interrupted. "Yeah, I've seen it all right...and what I couldn't understand was how you're able to to do transmutation that goes against the laws."

"That's why I'm telling you it's **not **alchemy." Cornello stated. "And then it came to me. **The Philosopher's Stone.** That's how you do it right?" Edward asked. Cornello twitched. "Like maybe...just maybe it's that **ring?**" Edward asked smirking.

Cornello twitched again. "Heh...the government gets their money's worth out of you, don't they? I guess you saw through the whole thing. **Correct!** The Philosopher's Stone, the Legendary Catalyst, the Amplifier of all alchemical processes. With this, I can conjure at the minimum price, for the maximum result!" Cornello said.

Edward's smirk widen. "How long I've searched for that."

"Hmph! What's the jealous look in your eyes!? What do you want the stone for? Money? Honor?" Cornello asked smirking as well.

"What about you? What do you get out of founding this phony religion? If it's money you want you can make as much as you want with the stone" Edward said.

"It's not about the money. Well, I do want money, but I can get that with almost no effort in the form of donations from my flock. What I **really **need are followers who will happily give their lives for me. Think about it! An invincible army of fanatics with no fear of death! Soon I'll have more than enough people! Just watch! Within a few years time this entire nation will be mine!" Cornello stated as he started laughing.

Rain peered from behind Edward with no interest. She glanced at Edward to see he had same look. "Well, fine, but I don't really care about that. Let's move on..." Edward said motioning his hands in a way, get-a-move-on motion.

Cornello gave a startled shocked look. "What! Don't belittle my ambition by saying, "Don't care"! You'd better care! You're a member of the military, after all!" Cornello said with a frantic shocked look from Edward's with little care reaction.

"You know, to be honest, I could care less about my country or the military. I'll be blunt! Give me the philosopher's stone! If you do that, I'll stay quiet about the scam you've been pulling on everybody."

Cornello scoffed. "Hmph! You'd try to bargain with me.? My followers would never believe the words of an outsider like you! The people of this town love me! They think that my words come from god! no matter how much noise you make, no matter what evidence you have, they'll never listen to you! Those idiots will believe everything I tell them! I've completely fooled them! Cornello yelled laughing.

Edward started clapping as Rain stared at him with confusion. "Just listen." Edward whispered noticing her confused face. "Wow...You are smart! Thanks for telling me how you do it. You're right. Your followers would never listen to a word I say. But!" Edward started as Alphonse unclasped his chest plate of his armor and took it off and kneeled down revealing Rose inside. "But what about her words?" Edward asked jabbing a thumb toward her.

Shocked and confusion showed on Cornello's face. "Rose!? What is the meaning of this?" Cornello shouted.

Rose climbed out of Alphonse's Armor. "Father! Is everything you said just now true!? Were you fooling us this whole time!? Your miracles aren't real? The power of god can't grant my wish? You can't bring my darling back again!?" Rose cried.

Cornello showed a frustrated look , but then he smirked. "Hmm...It's true that I'm not god's emissary. But with this stone, it may be possible to transmute living beings, which so many alchemists have tried and failed. Rose, I will resurrect him!"

"Rose, don't listen to him!" Al said. "Rose, be a good girl and come here." Cornello said. "If you go, you can never come back!" Edward said gritting his teeth. Rose looked unsure as she gazed back and forth. Rain went up to her and grasped her arm."Don't go Rose. If these two are right; Cornello won't be able to bring him back." Rain said.

"What's the matter? you belong with us." Cornello said. "Rose!" Al said. "I'm the only one that can grant your wish. Isn't that so? Think about your darling and come!" Cornello said grinning.

Rose grasped Rain's hand and gave it a light squeezed. Rain looked down as Rose made her let go and she looked toward Edward and Alphonse. She started walking away and Rain put her hand back down by her side. "Rose..." Rain started as she tried to follow Rose, but Edward grabbed her arm. "She made her choice, Rain." Ed said. Rain looked worried, and looked back to Rose's retreating back. Edward sighed and scratched his head. "I'm sorry you three. But this is the only choice I can make." Rose said.

"You truly are a good child. Well then, now we must eradicate these heathens who threaten the future of our faith." As Cornello pulled a hidden switch behind him.

A door in the shadows opened and then a bang. Something snapped at the ground in the shadows. Edward, Rain and Alphonse looked around for the source. Something slowly came out of the shadows. "The philosopher's stone is truly incredible. It can even create new life...like this." Have you ever seen a chimera?" Cornello asked. The chimera revealed to be a part lion and some kind of lizard.

"Oh boy!" Alphonse said. "Looks like this one might be tough to play with empty handed. So..." Edward clapped his hand while Cornello had a questioning look on his face. Blue lightning started by Edward's hands. Edward slowly lifted his hand to reveal a spear.

"Ergh! You made a weapon from the floor without using a transmutation circle?! So you deserve the title of the state alchemist after all! But that still won't be enough!" Cornello said as the chimera ran toward Edward. Alphonse pushed Rain behind him. Rain peered behind Al to see the chimera slash at Edward's spear. "Oh no!" Edward said as he grasped his leg where it the claws hit.

"Wa ha ha ha! Well?! How do you like the taste of claws that can cut through iron?" Cornello yelled. "Edward!" Rose said worried. Rain looked at the Edward's leg to see no blood coming out.

Edward grinned. "Psych!" The chimera lifted it's paw to reveal the claws broke off. Edward kicked the chimera. "Sorry, these are custom made!" Ed said.

"Wh-what's the matter! If your claws won't work, then bite him to death!" Cornello yelled at the chimera.

The chimera ran at Edward again as he bit onto Edward's right arm. The chimera tried gnawing his arm, but nothing snapped. "What's the matter, kitty? Tastes bad?" Edward asked glaring. He kicked the chimera.

Rain came out from behind Alphonse, because the chimera was knocked out and had no more sense to be hiding behind Alphonse.

"Look at me, Rose. This is what happens when you use alchemy on humans. This is what happens to sinners who trespass in god's domain. steel prosthetics." Edward said as he ripped off part of his shirt and his trench coat.

"Fullmetal" prosthetics. So that's why, the Fullmetal Alchemist!" Cornello said.

"Come down here and face me, you third rate fraud! I'll show you there's no comparison between us!" Edward said motioning Cornello forward with his auto-mail arm.


	2. The Price of Life

**Chapter Two: The Price of Life**

Rain's face frowned while Alphonse looked down and Edward's eyes were shadowed.

"I see. Now I understand who you are. It was always a mystery why a mere brat had a fearsome alias like "FullMetal." Look at them, Rose! Those two dared to do the one thing forbidden to alchemists. The unspeakable crime of Human Transmutation."

Rose cringed in fear. "They committed the worst possible sin!" Cornello yelled while grinning evilly. Rain glared at Cornello while Edward grunted and threw his now torn red trench coat on the ground.

'He made wings out of wax so he could fly, but when got too close to the sun, to god, the wax melted and he crashed to the ground.'

- **Flashback -**

_"Al! Al!." An 11 year-old Edward yelled while running and looking for his younger brother. "Hey, Alphonse!" He yelled again. _

_"What is it, big brother?" Alphonse asked as he closed the book he was reading. _

_"LOOK! We can't go wrong using this theory!" Edward said laying down a picture of a certain transmutation circle. _

_"No way. Is this...?" Alphonse started as Edward nodded. _

_"It is! This says how to do it! We can bring mom back from the dead!"_ _Edward yelled with happiness as Alphonse smiled as well._

_"We never had any doubts about doing it. Our mother was so kind, the kindest person in the world, all we wanted was just to see our mother's smile again. Even if it meant breaking the laws of alchemy, that was the only reason we were studying alchemy after all. But the resurrection failed. When it failed, m brother lost his left leg, and I had my whole body taken. I lost conscious for a while, until the next thing I saw when I opened my eyes, was this armor body and a sea of blood."_

_"Brother?" Alphonse asked as he got up. He looked to see his body was different. It was armor. _

_"Heh, heh...sorry, Alphonse." Edward said as he chuckled in pain. "All I could get for one arm was your soul." Edward said as he grasped his now missing arm. _

_"Brother, why?" _

**- End of Flashback -**

Rain looked down as her bangs covered her eyes and Rose cringed in fear.

"Even after the horrible injury of losing his left leg, my older brother exchanged his right arm for my soul and put it in this suit of armor." Alphonse said.

Edward closed his eyes and smirked. "Heh. The two of us tried to resurrect one person and this is what happened. This is what it takes to raise the dead, Rose." Edward said as he looked straight at Rose. Rose flinched back.

"Heh Heh Heh! And you call yourself a state alchemist?! Don't make me laugh!" Cornello yelled while laughing.

Edward's vein pulsed. "Shut up! You're just a third-rate hack who can't do anything without that stone!"

"More likely, an old fart..." Rain muttered as she glared at him, loud enough for Edward and Alphonse to hear. Edward and Alphonse chuckled.

"I see, I see. So that's why you want the philosopher's stone. Good idea. If you used this, you might be able to transmute humans for real eh?" Cornell asked chuckling.

"Don't get the wrong idea, baldy! The reason we want the stone is to get our original bodies back. Besides, we still don't know if it'll even be able to do that." Edward said smirking while gripping his auto-mail arm.

"Father, I'll ask you again. Give us the stone before you get hurt." Alphonse said, motioning his hand up for the stone.

"Heh heh...you fools are the ones who came too close to god and fell to earth. If that's the case, then this time I'll make sure to send you to god permanently!" Cornello yelled as he transmuted a gun and started shooting toward the boys and Rain.

Edward grabbed Rain and pulled her behind him and transmuted a wall. "Sorry. God doesn't like me very much. Even if I went, he'd probably chase me away!" Edward said laughing. Rain gave a little smile.

"Tch." Cornello grunted, but then saw Alphonse getting Rose. "Why you!" He started shooting Alphonse who ran toward Edward and Rain.

"Al! Let's get out of here!" Edward said as he grabbed onto Rain's wrist and lead the way toward the door.

"Fools! The exit is rigged. Only I can open it from up here!" Cornell yelled while grinning.

Edward let go of Rain's wrist and clapped his hands and slammed them onto the wall beside the sealed door. "Oh? Is that so? If there's no door, I'll have to make one!" Edward said as he rammed into his new door he transmuted. He grabbed Rain's wrist again and ran down the hall with Rain and Alphonse. Alphonse was carrying Rose.

"Don't just stand there! Go after them!" Cornello yelled at his guards. "They're pagans who want to destroy our religion! Get them! Hurry!" Cornello ordered.

All the men in the church gathered around the upcoming runaway group. "There you are! Hey, you! Stop!" One of the men commanded.

"Hey, you little runt. Are you gonna take us all on empty handed?" One of the guys asked. "Might as well give yourself up before you get hurt." He said.

Edward grinned and clapped his hands. He grinned evilly as he transmuted his arm into a sword. One said with rigged edges and the other straight and sharp. The men that surrounded, Alphonse, Rose, Rain and Edward screamed in terror. "AHH!"

BAM! Rain dropped down and tripped two of the guys that was behind Edward. Alphonse kicked one of the guys that was leading the new group toward them. "'Scuse us!" He yelled as he ran past them. Edward and Rain followed.

They were about to run past a room, but Edward stopped and peaked into the room. "Huh? What's this?" He asked, Rose.

"The broadcasting room. This is where Father Cornello delivers his sermons over the radio." Rose explained.

"Oh really..." Edward held his hand up to his chin and thought with an evil glint in his eyes.

_"Uh-oh. He's got a bad idea.' _Alphonse thought. Rain sweat dropped while Rose looked at him weird.

"Rose, go with Alphonse. Rain, stay here with me. Help me with this stuff." He said as he headed into the room with Rain following.

"Let's go." Alphonse said as he headed out the door with Rose following.

**- Alphonse and Rose -**

"About what you were saying before, I can't believe you have to do all that to perform alchemy." Rose said.

"I told you. The foundation of alchemy is the "Equivalent Exchange." To obtain something, something of equal value must be lost." People call my brother a genius, but the reason he's so good at it is he paid the price and worked so hard." Alphonse explained.

"But because you sacrificed so much, you must have been able to bring back your mother." Rose said.

"The thing we bought back wasn't even human anymore." Alphonse said as he continued transmuting the speakers to the bell. Rose flinched.

**- Flashback -**

_"Nooo! How did this happen?! Big brother your theory was flawless!" Alphonse said. _

_"yeah, there weren't any mistakes in the theory. We were the ones who made this mistake." Edward said as he clutched onto his missing arm._

**- End flashback -**

"We've given up on transmuting humans, but my brother still wants to get my original body. I'd like to make my brother's body the way it was too. But like I said before, the risk's are high, so we might end up even worse, or lose our lives. That's the way things are in this business. Rose, that's why you can't choose this path." Alphonse said. Rose looked down at the ground and gulped.

**- Edward and Rain -**

Edward sighed as he sat on top of the desk. Rain stood behind the desk. "Old man is taking too long." Edward said as a vein popped.

BAM!

"You little runt, you're not getting away!" Cornello said as he leaned against the door grasping for air.

"Just give up, will you? News of your trickery will spread throughout the town in no time anyway." Edward said sighing as he gave him an irritated look.

"Shut up! Everyone within this church is under my direct control! They'd never believe a stupid follower if she contradicted me!" Cornello yelled.

"My, my. I feel sorry for those poor followers of yours." Edward said.

"Followers are just pawns to use for war! I don't have time to be sorry for mere pawns! If I ask them to, they'll die happy and fulfilled, believing that they did it for god! I'll mass-produce them! Limitless fanatics, from the masses of idiots who can't even tell alchemy from miracles!" Cornello yelled as Edward smirked and rested his head on the fist of his auto-mail hand. Rain sighed and gave Cornello a bored look. _'Yup. He definitely fell for it.' _Rain thought.

"Did you think that you could stop my plans so easily!? You underestimated the power of blind faith!" Cornello said laughing evilly.

Edward's smirk grew wider. Then he started laughing. Rain followed. She grasped her stomach as she laughed and Edward tapped his head while laughing.

"What's so funny?!" Cornello asked.

"That's why I keep saying you're third-rate baldy!" Edward said as his eyes shadowed under his bangs as he kept laughing. Rain nodded. "I agree, but I'd call you old fart." She said laughing.

"You little brats! How dare you insult me!" Cornello said angrily as a vein popped.

"Know what this is?" Edward asked pointing to the box that Rain held up with an _on _and _off _switch.

Cornello looked at the box and down the floor where the microphone was. He looked at the box again and it said, _ON._

"You! YOU COULDN'T HAVE! YOU LITTLE RATS!"

~ Outside ~

The bell rung out throughout town.

Alphonse held the large bell as Cornello's voice could be heard throughout the town. Rose was flabbergasted as well as the town.

"How long has that switch been?!" Cornello asked.

Rain laughed in the background. "From the very beginning. You just exposed your entire plan." Edward said.

Two old women reading books dropped their books after what they just heard on the radio.

The men inside the church sweat dropped.

The manager at a restaurant along with the customers stared at the radio in shocked. The manager had the pitcher still pouring the coffee in the one the customer's cup.

The people walking around town stopped and looked at the speaker in the bell.

"What?! You dumb brats. I'm going to kill you two!" He said as he tried transmuting his stick into a gun.

"Too slow!" Edward said as he transmuted his auto-mail arm into a sword on top of his hand. He sliced the gun in half.

"Didn't I tell you? There's no comparison between us." Edward said as he stood in a stance in front of Rain.

"I won't give up! As long as I have this stone I can make miracles again and again!" Cornello yelled as he tried transmuting the half gun into a whole one, only to have his hand transmuted along with it.

"GAAAGGHH MY ARM! MY ARM!" Cornello yelled in pain as he crouched on the floor holding his now transmuted arm.

"Why did it...?" Edward said as he stared in disbelief. Rain looked at the arm and disguised her face with a frown.

_'The old fool deserved it.' _She thought as she sighed mentally. _'Father won't like this. Oh well.' _She thought as she crossed her arms.

Edward marched over to Cornello and grasped him by the collar of his shirt who was crying in pain.

"SHUT UP!" Edward yelled with two veins popping as he head butted Cornello on the head. "It was just a rebound! Don't make a big deal over one or two arms! The stone! Let me see the philosopher's stone." Edward demanded.

"My..stone." Cornello said as the stone cracked in pieces and fell to the floor only to break into dust and flowing into the air.

"It broke? How could this happen? How could a pure substance like the philosopher's stone break apart?" Edward demanded.

"I don't know. I don't know anything! Nobody told me a thing! Agggh...Please spare me. I was wrong. I'm powerless without the stone. Help me." Cornello said as he held up his hands defense.

"It's a fake? After coming this far...I thought I could finally go back to normal and it's a fake?" Edward asked staggering away from Cornello as he slouched on the ground.

An imaginary spotlight showed over Edward as Rain sweat dropped. She walked over to Edward and tried to comfort him. A large _gloom_ floated over Edward.

_'Heh, heh, heh. He's not paying any attention to me. I'll get even with them even it it means giving everything to kill this one kid!'_ Cornello thought. He got up silently and tried to tip toe away from Edward and Rain.

"Hey. Old man." Edward said as the gloom went away and he got up and helped Rain up as well. He turned around to face Cornello.

He clapped his hand and transmuted the ground.

"First you lied to the townspeople, then you tried to kill us." The little lightning spread throughout the room. "And now, after all the trouble you put me through, you're telling me the stone was fake?!" Edward asked as a large transmuted fist showed up. Cornello yelped as the hand came out from under him.

"THIS BETTER BE SOME KIND OF JOKE!" Edward yelled as a large vein popped. A large figure was formed behind Edward and Rain. The figure loomed over Cornello. "FEEL THE IRON BLOW OF GOD'S WRATH!" Edward yelled in anger and frustration as three more large veins popped.

Cornello stared up in horror as a fist came slamming down at him. Cornello was knocked out.

Edward grunted in frustration. "Damn old man! He should be glad that he's not dead." Edward said. As he flexed his auto-mail arm. "Come on Rain." Edward said motioning Rain to follow him. Rain looked back at him and Edward. She nodded and followed him out the door.

They met up with Alphonse and Rose outside the church.

"Its a fake?" Alphonse asked as they seated on the ground.

"yeah, it was all a waste of time too. Just when I thought we were finally going to be able to get your old body back." Edward said as he sighed.

"We need to worry about you first. Auto-mail has a lot of problems." Alphonse said.

"Oh well, I guess we'll look somewhere else. Back on the road again." Edward said as he stood up and dusted his pants.

"But, there must be some mistake. I mean, they told me that he would come back to life." Rose said as she was sitting on the ground.

"Give it up Rose, it could never be done." Edward said. Rain went over to Rose and grasped her shoulder.

"What did you do to me? What do i do? What am I supposed to believe in now?! Are you going to tell me?" Rose asked as Edward and Alphonse remained silence. "Well, are you?!" Rose asked desperately.

Edward sighed. "You need to figure that out on your own. Stand up and walk. Keep going onward. At least you have strong legs to take you there." Edward said walking away with Alphonse. He looked back to Rain. "Are you staying or coming, Rain?" Edward asked as they stopped to look at Rain.

Rain looked down and sighed. She looked at Rose. She put a hand on Rose in comfort manner. "Keep moving on like Edward said. Help make things better without miracles. At least believe in something real and believe that they will happen." Rain said as she stood up. "If we're lucky enough, we may see each other again." Rain said as she gave Rose a sad smile. Tears poured down Rose's face as Rose gave a small smile. Rain turned around and walked toward Edward and Alphonse.

"I'm going with you two. I'll help a long the way with you, and I may even learn more about alchemy too." Rain said as she looked at Edward and Alphonse.

"Alright. Are you sure you're ready for the dangers we're put in?" Edward asked. Rain nodded. "I don't have anywhere else to go. I need to be useful in something and I'll to do it now." Rain said.

"Let's go." Edward said as he turned around with Alphonse and Rain following.

As the two drew farther away from the town; Edward decided to get answers out of Rain.

"So, you going to tell us where you came from?" Ed asked as Al nodded. "You are still a stranger to us." Al agreed.

Rain looked at them and back. She fixed her hood to cover head from the sun. "I travel. A lot. So I don't exactly have a home." She said.

"Hm. Well, we got time. Let's chat shall we?" Ed asked as they continued walking.

_'Here comes my deception.'_ Rain thought as she thought of a lie to discuss with them.

**- Below the church -**

"I can't believe those runts ruined my plans. I won't allow it. I've invested too much in this to let it fall apart." Cornello said in frustration as he past the dead chimera which half of it's body was in bones.

"Really, you were so close and now everything's ruined." A voice said in the dark. Cornello looked ahead to see a large fat guy sitting down eating the remains of the chimera and woman sitting on his shoulder.

"Long time no see. Wish it was longer. You've caused a lot of trouble, your holiness." The woman said.

"Wh..What's the meaning of this!? The philosopher's stone that you gave me broke into pieces. How dare you give me a fake!" Cornello yelled.

"Please. Did you think we would hand over the real thing to a person like you?" The woman asked, now standing up.

"You...you said that I would be able to take over this country by using this stone." Cornello said.

"Mmm. I did say something like that, didn't I? All we wanted was for you to cause a little big of chaos in this region. That's all." The woman said as Cornello looked puzzled.

"What? You look surprised. Did you really think that a third-rate despot like yourself could become ruler of a country?" The woman asked.

"Hey Lust, can I eat this old guy? Can I?" The large fat guy asked as he grinned.

No, no Gluttony. You're going to get a stomach-ache if you eat the likes of him." Lust said. "If you eat this third-rate, no this fourth-rate fool..." She continued, but was interrupted.

"AAARRRGGG! YOU'RE ALL MOCKING ME-YOU AND EVERYBODY ELSE!" Cornello yelled as he charged toward Lust.

Lust raised her right hand and her fingers extended only to have go through his head.

"You, are no longer of any use." She said as she grinned evilly. She withdrew her extended fingers and turned away from the now dead corpse of Cornello.

"Awww. And just when things were starting to go so well. Father will be furious." Lust said as she sighed and returned her extended fingers back to normal. Gluttony picked up the guy and grinned.

"So, what should our next plan be?" Lust asked as she glanced at Gluttony.

RIP...SHRED...

"Hey, I thought I told you not to eat that." Lust said. Gluttony ignored her and kept eating.

"Wonder where that little Deception went." Lust wondered. Gluttony stopped eating at the name of Deception. "Where is she?" Gluttony asked as he left the corpse unattended.

Lust sighed. "I don't know. But right now we got to report to Father." Lust said walking away with Gluttony following.

**- Edward, Alphonse and Rain -**

GWOOO. The train went down the tracks fast.

"Looks like we're the only ones on board." Alphonse said as he glanced around the cart to see no one else. Rain was asleep in another seat. Edward put his trench coat on top of her.

"I've heard the rumors, but I didn't know it was this bad. Guess this isn't exactly tourist country." Edward said as he sighed. He folded the map.

"The town on the eastern border. The Youswell Coal Mines." Edward said looking out at the upcoming deserted town.

* * *

Critics and Reviews are welcome. Thank you.


	3. The Mining Town

**Chapter Three: The Mining Town**

**- Edward, Alphonse and Rain -**

Edward and Alphonse looked around town, while Rain watched the train go into the tunnel.

"So this is where we get coal. "The Wild Frontier," eh? I always thought a place like this would be a little more lively." Edward said.

"Everyone seems a little tired." Alphonse said as he looked at all the people. A dog was sniffing near a pile of chopped wood, a man was sitting down resting and another man was walking up the stairs exhausted.

"Hmm..." Edward said as he was about to walk forward, but...BONK

"Oops! Sorry 'bout that." A boy seem to be younger then Edward and Alphonse. Alphonse looked at Ed in alarm as Rain ran up to Edward to help him up.

"Why you little!" Edward said as he grabbed the back of his head where it was hit and his other hand grabbed Rain's helping hand to stand up, only to be stopped by the boy.

"HEY! You're from out of town, right? On a trip, Where you from? Need a mean? A place to stay?"

"Uh...Well..Hold on a minute!" Edward said. Rain sweat dropped as she gripped Edward's hand and helped him up.

"Dad! We got customers!" The boy yelled.

"Listen when people talk to you!" Edward yelled at the boy with two anime vein popping.

A man from an upper level floor looked down. _'Must be his father.' _Rain thought.

"Huh? What's that Khayal?" He asked.

"Customers! A piggy bank!" The boy named Khayal said waving.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, "PIGGY BANK!?" Edward yelled.

"You don't say." The man said grinning. He took his helmet off.

**- Early nightfall -**

"Sorry about the dust. The mines don't pay very much, so we run this inn to get by." The chief said.

"What're you talkin' 'bout, chief!? Your problem is, you're a soft touch!Always giving what you make to the poor! That's why your old lady's always crying!" Some of the men in the small restaurant said laughing.

"Keep it down, you!" The chief yelled as he bought more drinks to the other men.

"If you got a problem with how I spend my money, then hurry up and pay me what you owe for the booze!" The chief yelled at the men. They all laughed.

"So, there's three of you. You want one night's stay and three meals each?" The lady asked.

Rain nodded. "How much?" Edward asked.

"What...afraid you can't afford it?" The chief asked grinning.

"Don't worry, I bought enough." Edward said noticing his grin.

"200 thousand!" The chief said holding out two fingers.

Edward fell down to the ground along with the chair, Rain's jaw opened and Alphonse held his head.

"200 THOUSAND?! WHAT A RIP OFF!" Edward yelled.

"I said you might be able to afford it." The chief said. "We don't get too many tourists, so when they come we try to make sure they leave us all their money."

Edward shook his head and started out the door with Alphonse and Rain following. "You gotta be kidding me! We're go somewhere else!" Edward said as he held his hand up.

The chief grabbed Edward's head. "There's no escape, piggy bank!" He said with two veins pulsing.

"Forget about it. The prices are the same everywhere else." Khayal said as he sweat dropped.

"We don't really have enough." Edward whispered as Alphonse and him huddled behind a table. Rain stood by them.

"I guess the only thing we can do is use alchemy to turn pebbles into gold." Edward whispered.

"You know it's forbidden by the state alchemy laws to make gold." Alphonse argued back.

"If we don't get caught...we won't get caught." Edward said with an evil look. Rain had put her hands on her hip and a confused look toward Edward's facial expression.

"You're evil!" Alphonse said.

The two stopped whispering, because they just noticed Khayal was there beside them. He was looking at Edward.

"Dad! This guy's an alchemist!" Khayal yelled as he got up to go to his father.

Everyone huddled to Edward as Edward stood by a table. One of the mine workers put his broken pickaxe on the table. The blade was broken.

Everyone watched Edward with curious eyes as he clapped his hands. He put his hands on top of the broken pickaxe and lightning emitted from his hands. The lightning ceased and revealed a brand new pickaxe.

All the men looked at the guy's new pickaxe in awe.

"Wow!" one man said observing the pickaxe.

"It looks brand new!" The owner of the pickaxe said grinning.

"This is great! Our first customer in ages, and he's an alchemist." Another man said.

"I used to dabble a little bit myself. But I don't really have the talent, so I gave up studying." The chief said as he set down two plates of food and two cups of coffee on the table for Edward and Rain. Alphonse objected for the food.

"I'll give you a special alchemist's friendship discount. Plus the amount I owe you for fixing the pickaxe." The chief said.

"Sounds good!" Edward said grinning.

"Altogether, that's a 50% discount! 100 thousand!" The chief said.

Anime vein. "That's still a lot!" Edward said fuming.

"Edward, they're still giving us at least a discount." Rain said. Alphonse nodded in agreement.

"By the way, I didn't catch your name." The chief said.

"Oh yeah? Edward Elric." Edward said.

Edward was about to cut the meat, but the chief took the plate causing Edward to hit his knife on the table.

"So you're Elric the alchemist. The state alchemist?" The chief asked.

Rain looked around to see all the other men glaring toward Edward's direction.

"Well, sort of." Edward said as he went for his coffee only to have it taken away as well.

"Hey, what's the big deal?!" Edward asked getting mad.

All the men were behind him. "Get lost!"

The men grabbed Edward and Alphonse out the door. Rain stood by the door with the rest.

"Hey! We're paying customers!" Edward yelled.

"Bleh! We don't have food or lodgings for dogs of the military!" The chief said with an anime vein.

"Um, I'm a civilian. I'm not a "state" anything. So is Rain." Alphonse said.

"Oh that's fine then! Come on in!" The chief said welcoming Alphonse back in.

"YOU TRAITOR!" Edward yelled at Alphonse as he tried to stop him only to be stopped by the men.

The men shut the door on Edward as Alphonse and Rain sat back down on the table.

"Man, just when I thought had a paying guest." One of the men said annoyed.

"What a let down" Another man said.

Alphonse and Rain sat quietly and listened to the others.

"State alchemists aren't too popular here, are they?" Alphonse asked as Rain faced Al and Khayal.

Rain nodded. "Did something happen in the past to make everyone here dislike them?" She asked.

"No." Khayal said.

"Of course everyone around here hates soldiers. This town's under the authority of Lieutenant Yoki, but all he cares is making money."

"I hear he spends it all on bribes to his superiors back in Central City." One of the miners said.

"He even bought his way up being a lieutenant." Another guy said.

"Used to just owned the mines, but he got greedy about movin' up."

"Huh? So this place is...?" Al perked up.

"Yup, this is Yoki's private property."

"That's too bad. Maybe, Ed, Al and I can do something about this." Rain said standing up. She headed for the door to wait for Al.

"That rat owns everything in this town! We don't get paid enough to get by. Even if we complaing to someone higher up on the chain, Yoke bribes them all so they won't help!" Another man complained.

"See? I sucks huh, Rain?" Khayal asked.

Rain nodded while Al stood up from his seat.

Khayal's dad handed Rain and Alphonse a tray of food.

"And then there's the Alchemists. "Alchemists work for the people." That's the slogan of the alchemist, the source of their pride. I know they get a lot in exchange, but I can't forgive people who sell their souls to the military state." He said.

"What happens if the alchemist had other purposes other than joining the military?" Rain asked.

"Hah. What else would they want?" Khayal's dad asked.

"Who knows. Data or to get stronger." Rain replied with her eyebrows perked up. Her expression looked innocence to the others.

"Same thing though." Khayal's dad said.

Rain shrugged and went out the door with her tray of food and Al following.

*Outside*

*GRROWWWLLL*

"I'm hungry..." Ed groaned while laying on his suitcase.

"Damn you Al and Rain. Have you lost your humanity so soon?" He complained.

A tray of food showed up in front of Ed's face.

"Here. I snuck out with the food they gave me." Al said holding the tray for Ed.

"DEAR BROTHER!" Ed cried hugging Al.

"You're so predictable." Al said sweatdropping.

Rain sat next to Ed while he ate his food. She took little bites.

The crescent moon shown brightly over the town.

Al and Rain explained why these men hated alchemists and military so much.

"Hmm..These corrupt official are everywhere huh?" Ed asked.

"I guess. Thanks to this guy, the don't even get enough food supplies. That's awful." Rain said as she placed her tray aside and drinking the tea.

"I see." Ed said as he paused eating.

"That lieutenant Yoki's causing us a lot of trouble. I mean military personnel like us aren't very popular to begin with. When I became a state alchemist, I knew I'd get a certain amount of flack, but I never knew they would hate me this much."

"Maybe Rain and I should get certified as a state alchemist too." Alphonse said.

Rain shook her no. "I'm not going to join the military. I don't want to. Besides, if Ed can't go to places, Al and I can." Rain said grinning.

"What's that suppose to mean?!" Ed asked as he stomped up to Rain. She leaned back as he got close to her.

"Exactly what I said." She said. Al placed a hand on Ed's shoulder.

"She's right Ed." Al said. Ed fumed, but he sat down again.

"Besides, it's not worth it! One person sitting on this bed of needles is enough!" Ed said grinning. "Dogs of the military huh? I don't know how to respond to that." Ed said closing his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Not only that, but we broke the laws of alchemy and now we're stuck with these bodies." Al said.

"I wonder what teacher would say." Al said sighing.

Rain looked at them in question as a moment of silence passed as the mentioned of their teacher.

"She kill us!" Ed said shivering as Al took his head in his hands.

"Who is your teacher?" Rain asked as she crossed her legs and tilted her head in questioned.

"Izumi Curtis is our teacher who taught us alchemy." Ed said recovering from his shiver.

Al nodded. "Yeah. She taught us the value of alchemy, and even though she taught us to not do the forbidden taboo, we still did." Al said looking down.

Rain looked from Edward and Alphonse. She stood up with determination in her eyes. "I will help you then. I'm accompanying you right now, so I might as well be useful and help you find the Philosopher's Stone." Rain said.

Ed and Al looked at her speechless from her outburst. "Uh, okay. The road we're taking is dangerous, Rain." Ed said.

"We don't want you to get hurt." Al said.

"I've been on my own for a while. I think that shows that I'll do fine." Rain said crossing her arms.

Ed and Al sighed. "Girls." They muttered.

"What was that?" Rain asked. _'I swear heard them mutter an insult.' _She thought.

"Nothing!" Ed and Al exclaimed waving their hands. She sighed as the trio sat in comfortable silence.

Their quiet moment was interrupted.

"Out of the way! We're coming!"

Rain, Ed and Al looked toward the source of the noises.

*Inside the hotel*

Three men walked in with the smaller guy in the front. He held a handkerchief in front of his mouth.

"Place looks filthy as usual." He said.

"Well, well, lieutenant. What brings you to a shabby little place like this?" The chief asked.

"Enough small talk. I hear you're late on your taxes. I know you're not the only deadbeat in this town, but don't expect me to just ignore you." Yoki said.

Rain, Edward and Alphonse peeked from behind the door way.

"I'm very sorry, but we're barely getting by as it is." The chief said.

"Hmph...I see you can still afford to sell alcohol. I guess that means i can lower your salary a bit more?" Yoki asked.

"Why you! You better be joking!" Khayal yelled as he threw the wet rag at Yoki's face.

"You little brat! Sir, allow me." One of the soldiers offered.

Yoki took the rag off and back handed Khayal.

"Khayal!" The chief yelled as Khayal landed on the floor sideways.

"I won't hold back just because he's a child." Yoki said as he signaled one of his men.

"Let this be a warning." Yoki said as the man drew his sword out and swung it back ready to hit Khayal.

The chief was about to run to him, but Rain ran inhuman speed and grabbed Khayal to dodge the strike of the sword. She halted a little ways away from the military soldier next to Khayal's dad.

"Who are you!" Yoki yelled as Rain handed Khayal to the chief.

"She turned to Yoki and his men while Edward and Alphonse walked in.

"You're talking about manners? Men like you are a disgrace." Rain said in a low voice. She ran toward the man with the sword and jumped up and kicked him in the face in mid-air. He flew back, dropping the sword in process.

Edward tapped Yoki on the shoulder. Yoki looked down to Ed. "Who are you?!" He yelled.

"Just a kid passing through." Edward said as he was drinking his tea still.

The other man with Yoki freaked out when he saw Alphonse.

"This is none of your business! Stay out!" Yoki yelled to Edward and Rain who dragged the other man toward the other guy and dropped him in front of him.

"Well, I heard that the lieutenant was gonna be here, so I decided to say hello." Edward said as he showed Yoki his state alchemist pocket watch.

_'A gold watch with the president's crest and the hexagram!' _Yoki exclaimed in his mind.

"Lieutenant. Who is this brat?" The man asked as he got up from the floor away from Rain to Yoki.

"You idiot!" Yoki yelled as he bonked on him on the upside of the head.

"Don't you know what a state alchemist is? They work directly for president!" Yoki whispered.

"You're serious? That little runt?!" The man whispered back.

_'I thought I heard runt.'_ Ed thought as an anime vein showed up on his cheek.

"This is my chance. If I make an impression here, I might be able to make some connections at Central." Yoki whispered.

"Wow! You're really on top of things, lieutenant." The man whispered in awed.

"I'm sorry if my subordinates were impolite. My name is Yoki, an I'm in charge of this town. It must be fate that we met here! There's no need for you to stay in this pig-pen!" Yoki said as Khayal at the side yelled, "What do you mean, pig-pen?!"

Edward smiled. "Well, I guess that would be alright, because the owner here is too cheap to let me stay." Ed said as the chief "hmph" in return.

"Listen here, lowlifes. I'm going to make you pay every penny of the taxes that you owe me. I'll be back!" Yoki said as they slammed the door to leave.

Rain and Alphonse stood there in the crowd of the minors. Silence swept among them for a moment, but it was indeed not a peaceful quiet one.

"AAGGH! That makes me so mad!" Khayal yelled out as Rain patted his head with a sweat dropped.

"Um, mad at who?" Alphonse asked.

"Both of them!" All the minors exclaimed next to Rain and Al.

The chief walked up to Rain. "Thank you for saving Khayal. How did you get there so fast though?" The chief asked as Khayal and the others looked at Rain in expectant.

"Training." Rain said simply.

"Understandable I guess. Which reminds me, would you and Alphonse like to stay here? In exchange, free of charge for saving Khayal." The chief offered and the others nodded in agreement. Khayal hugged Rain as a thanks.

"Sure. Thank you." Al said bowing. Rain did the same.

The lady showed the two to their rooms and left them to do what they needed.

*Later in the night.*

Rain stood on the roof of the hotel watching. The crescent moon high in the dim lighted sky. It will soon be dawned and Rain will have to be back in the hotel.

_'How am I going to tell them the truth? Father entrusted me with this. I cannot fail or I'll be destroyed by him.' _She thought grimly as she bought her hand in front of her face. She clenched her hand in a fist.

_'I'll have to think of something later.' _Rain thought as she put the nagging feeling away in the back of her mind. She was ready to get down from the roof until she heard noises from below. She looked around for the source until she saw two soldiers under Yoki's division.

_'What the hell are they doing here?" _She thought as she watched them. The two men have torch and walked around the other Inn. She leapt across to the other inn. She jumped down in front of them and crossed her arms as the two men panicked at the sight of her for a moment.

"It's you little girl." The man on the left said.

"What are you two up to?" She asked.

"Nothing you need to worry about little missy. Go ahead." The other soldier said as the one on the left nodded and tossed the torch into the hotel.

Rain watched in the horror and disgust as the men let their torch catch the inn on fire and left. She gritted her teeth.

_'Have to get Alphonse.' _She thought. She stopped for a moment. _'Why do I care what these humans do?" _She thought. A beam broke from the fire and crashed to the ground startling Rain from her conflicting thoughts.

_'Tch. No time now.' _She thought with irritation and raced toward Al's room at the other inn.

She rushed inside and opened his door to see Al standing at the window watching the flames. He turned to the source of the noise and saw Rain.

"Rain? What are you doing up?" Al asked as Rain approached him.

"Did you happen to see a couple of military men near the inn?" She asked. Al nodded. "Yeah. We should go tell the chief and the others." He said as he headed out the door.

Rain followed Al's trail. When they arrived at the inn, they see a few other people arriving as well.

"How awful." One of the minors said as more people arrived.

Rain and Al caught the site of Edward standing in the crowd along with Khayal sitting on the ground. The two walked up to them as Rain kneeled next to Khayal.

"Last night, I saw some of Yoki's underlings hanging around the inn. Damn it. What a dirty thing to do. The reason dad tried to learn alchemy was because he wanted to save this town." Khayal explained. Then an idea struck Khayal's head.

"Hey Ed. You're good enough to create gold right? Can't you just whip up some gold to help my dad and this town?!" Khayal pleaded.

Ed closed his eyes and bluntly answered. "No."

"Come on. It's not like it's gonna cost you anything!" Khayal pleaded.

"The foundation of alchemy is "equivalent exchange" Why should I give you free money?" Ed asked.

"Why you! YOu scumbag! You call yourself an alchemist?!" Khayal yelled as he gripped Ed's trench coat.

"Alchemists work for the people" right?" Ed asked.

Ed yanked his trench coat back as Khayal's dad and the other minors came to him.

"If I gave you money now, it'd just end up as taxes in Yoki's vault. I don't feel like being used by all of you just to get by. If you're that desperate, then leave town and find another job." Ed said as he fixed his coat. Rain and Alphonse stood there on the side.

"Kid, I know you can't understand, but the mines are our homes and our graves." The chief said as they all walked away leaving Rain, Al and Ed in front of the burnt down inn.

Ed stood there for a moment in silence.

"What should we do?" Rain asked. "I'm not going to let Yoki get away with this. This isn't right for the town." Rain said as she looked the burnt down inn.

Ed walked off toward a couple of culm.

"Ed?" Rain asked as they followed Edward.

"Are you really going to abandon these people?" Alphonse asked.

"Al. How much culm do you think is here?" He asked as he observed the culm.

"Huh? One ton...maybe two tons?" Alphonse said as he looked at Ed in questioning. Rain looked between the culm and Edward. Then it struck her. Ed was going to transmute the culm to gold.

"Okay. I'm gonna do something slightly illegal now. So you just look the other way for a second." Ed said climbing up the culm.

"Huh?!" Al exclaimed as he figured out what Ed was gonna do. "You want Rain and I to be an accomplice?" He asked.

"What, you won't?" Ed asked as he clapped his hands.

"You're gonna do it even if I say no right?" Al asked sighing.

Ed transmuted the culm. "Aaah, if we don't get caught, we don't get caught." Edward said.

"Man, oh man. Aren't you supposed to set an example for me?" Al asked as he put his hands on his hips. Rain crossed her arms sighing while smiling.

"All done. Come on." Ed said.

*Yoki's mansion*

Yoki and his men stood speechless as Ed, Al and Rain stood there with six piles of gold and some scattered on the floor.

"Now, I'd like you to sell me all the rights to the coal mines." Ed said as he crossed his arms smirking.

Yoki's men examined the gold.

"It's not enough?" Ed asked as he put his up to his chin.

Yoki shook his head furiously.

"P-P-Please don't be absurd!" Yoki exclaimed. He then turned around with stars sprinkling around him. Rain snorted as Al sighed.

"And also, um, if you don't mind." Yoki stammed glancing at Ed.

Ed caught on and grinned. "Oh yes! Of course I'll put in a good word to my superiors." He said.

"Oh, thank you, thank you! My dead alchemist!" Yoki said as he clapped Ed's hand. Ed laughed.

"But making gold is illegal, so in order to not get caught, I would appreciate it if you would write a document saying, "The rights were peacefully transferred free of charge." Ed said.

"Oh, I wouldn't mind at all! Well then, Let's do the paper work right away." Ed followed Yoki to fill out the paper work.

Rain and Alphonse went outside to wait for Ed.

*Another building*

"WHY NOT, DAD!?" Khayal exclaimed as he slammed his fist on the barrel he was standing next to with his dad sitting across from him. "Why can't we do it?!" He yelled.

"Because I said so. I won't allow a raid." His dad said calmly.

"Even if you're it against it, chief. I'm still going." One of the men said.

The others agreed too.

"No! I can't allow all of you to become criminals." His dad said sternly.

"But!" Khayal insisted.

Edward opened the door with Rain and Alphonse following him.

"Hi everybody! What a lot of gloomy faces! You're looking cheerful today!" Edward exclaimed as he happily came in.

Everyone glared at him.

"What are you doing here?" Khayal asked rudely with a hand on his hip.

"Hey, hey. Should you be speaking like that to the new proprietor of this joint?" Ed asked with his index finger on his chin.

"What the hell are y..?!" One of minors asked. Ed put a document of papers in front of his face.

"What's this?" He asked pointing to the papers lamely.

"Ownership papers. They confer on the holder the rights to mining, sales, distribution, and all subsidiary businesses in this town." Edward said holding them up.

"How did you get this? Hey! It's been signed over to Edward Elric!" The minor said looking at the papers.

The other minors exclaimed "WHAT?"

"Correct! So from this moment on, this coal mine belongs to me!" Edward exclaimed.

"NO WAY!"

"Believe it, but we're just a couple of vagabonds going from place to place. These documents will just be in the way...so.." Ed started as Al and Rain sighed and sweat dropped.

"You want to sell it to us? How much?" The chief asked.

Edward smirked. "What...you afraid you can't afford it? If you want something, you have to pay the price. After all, this deed is printed on high quality goatskin parchment, stamped with a gold seal." Ed said as he tossed the papers on top of the barrel.

Edward blabbed on and soon the the chief and the minors just stared at him speechless.

"How about the price of one night's stay and three meals for three at your place? Would that be fair, chief?" Edward asked and he pointed an index finger up.

The chief and the others stared at him again.

"Oh, the equivalent exchange." Khayal said. Rain patted his head. "An easy one too." She said smiling.

"Hahahaha! You're right, that is expensive! I'll buy it!" The chief said slamming his fist on the barrel. The other minors smiled.

"Sold!" Ed exclaimed.

"Mr. Alchemist sir, what is the meaning of this?!" Yoki exclaimed as he slammed the door opened. He had the previous form of the culm before they were turned into gold.

"Well, well, lieutenant. I just sold the deed to the chief here." Ed said as he handed the chief the papers.

"WHAT?!" Yoki yelled. "No, but that's not what I'm here for! The gold bars you gave me all turned to culm! Can you please explain that!" He said pointing to the rocks.

"When did you change it back?" Rain whispered to Ed as Al leaned in to listen.

"Right before I left." Ed whispered back looking smugged.

"I don't know anything about any "gold bars." Edward said innocently looking away.

"Please don't act dumb! We exchanged the pile of gold for the ownership documents. This is fraud!" Yoki said.

"Huh? The deed was given to me free of charge. See, you signed it! It says so right here." Ed said grinning while holding up a paper and pointing to it.

"What?!" Yoki said. "This deal is null and void. You two! Take those documents from them now!" Yoki said as he pointed to the minors. "Huh?"

One of the minors blocked their way.

It's not right to try and take someone else's property by force." He said.

"Abusing your power eh?" Another said.

"Shut up! Out of my way you scum. If you don't want to get hurt, you better..."

"Lieutenant, it's not good to underestimate the strength of coal minors." They said as they gang up on Yoki's two men.

WAHM BAM BONK PLONK.

Two of Yoki's men were unconscious as Yoki stood in the corner scared.

"Oh, lieutenant, I'll be sure to tell the higher-ups about your corruption and incompetence too." Edward said smiling innocently. "So please look forward to it."

Yoki slumped in the corner as the minors cheered. "All right! We did it! Bring out the booze!" They all said.

Rain and Alphonse stood next to Khayal and the chief while Edward was crowded around by the minors as they dumped booze on Ed.

"Dad." Khayal said as he held the documents. "Ed hadn't sold his soul after all." He said as they watched Edward and the minors.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Oh, Rain." The chief said turning to Rain as she and Al looked at him in question.

"You were right too." He said as he ruffled her hair.

Rain smiled as Alphonse put a hand on her shoulder. The four laughed and they joined the party.

*Morning*

"I can't eat another bite." Edward said as he held his stomach.

"You're sleeping with your stomach out again! Sheesh Ed! You're so sloppy!" Alphonse said angrily as he held Ed's coat. Rain sweat dropped as she stood by Edward watching Alphonse trying to get his brother up.

The other minors were all passed out too in joy.


	4. Battle On the Train

**Chapter Four: The Battle on the Train**

**I left an author's note in the edited version of Chapter 1. Please read it. It'll be important if you plan on reading my fan fiction. **

* * *

**- Edward, Rain and Alphonse - **

Rain and Edward grabbed something to eat on the train while Alphonse gazed at the passing scenery outside.

"Off to Central to find more information on the Philosopher's Stone. Bad news is, the colonel." Ed said as he got this weird look on his face while Rain looked at Edward clueless.

Alphonse sighed as he shook his head. Rain looked back and forth between the brothers in question. Alphonse seemed to get her confusion.

"Colonel Mustang is Ed's superior in military." Al explained to Rain as Ed decided to take the whole bench, but little room for Rain at least.

"Wake me up when we get to Central." Ed exclaimed. Rain gazed out the window as Al quieted down and the eyes of his armor disappeared, almost indicating he was "asleep" as well.

Rain stared out the window watching the scenery passed by idly.

_'Well, I should report to Father when we get back. I bet Lust already told him what happened to that fool of a priest.' _She thought as she crossed her legs. She glanced at Edward and Alphonse.

_'These two young men. They're different. And smarter if I shall add. I should be careful and not underestimate them. If Envy or Lust or anyone else give away my identify because of the slip of their mouth; I'll kill them. We don't want more complications.' _Rain thought as she narrowed her eyes at the passing scenery.

~ **Else where in the same train ~ **

"WHEE! Dad, we're going so fast! This is great!" A little girl age, 5 said as she looked back toward her father from the scenery.

Her brother just watched the whole scene play before hand while smiling. Their father and mother laughed at their daughter's excitement.

"Ha ha ha! Don't get too excited or you'll wear yourself out. Now remember, you promised that you'd play with me when we got there." The father said smiling at his daughter's excitement. His wife looked at him worriedly.

"What about your work, dear?" She asked unsure. The husband sighed and smiled tiredly. "I finally got this vacation. Idon't see the harm in forgetting about work for awhile and just spending time with my family." He said.

It got quiet cause the family heard ruckus outside their door. The family looked toward the door as it opened loudly.

Two men that weren't military stood there with guns pointed at them. "

"You're General Hakuro, right?" The one on the right asked.

"Who are you people? You're rude-" He was cut off by another man in a rugged trench coat and eye patch.

"Sorry for disturbing your family gathering, general. The vacation's over." He said glaring down at him.

General Hakuro shielded his wife and kids from the men.

"From here on, it will be a trip of thrills and despair."

* * *

~ **East Central**: **Military HQ**~

"The hijacked train was liited express No. 04840, departing from New Optain. This is the work of the "Blue Squad," A group of Easter Extremists."

"Any statements?" The man asked the woman following him while she looked through papers.

"We received a manifesto. Would you like me to read it?" She asked.

The man opened the door. "Let me guess, I'm sure it's full of kind words for the military." He stated.

"How'd you guess?" She asked as she followed him through the doorway and they both went through a couple aisles as rushing military personnel passed them. The East HQ was on alert since the train's destination was appointed to the East.

"They want us to release their leader. We've got him in prison." the woman said.

"How predictable. So is the general really on board?" He asked.

"We're verifying that right now, but it's very likely." Another military man from his division said as they waited for their other man to get the list of the passengers on board.

"Man, what am i gonna do? i have a date set up alter in the evening." The man said sighing irritably and scratching the back of his head.

"It wouldn't have hurt to have an overtime date with us once in a while." Another said while drinking tea and muttering, "complete with nasty tea."

Their leading man rubbed his chin in thought. "I guess that general's jut going to have to sacrifice himself so that we can wrap things up right away."

"Don't be ridiculous, colonel. Here is the list of the passengers." One his men said as he was the one getting requests of passengers on the train. He passed the papers with listed passengers to the others.

"Ah, Old man Hakuro really is on board with his family." One of them said as he leaned in next to their Colonel to look at the listed names.

Colonel sighed. "Good grief. I'm sure he knew that the situation out East is unstable, and yet he comes here on vacation." He looked down the list and stopped when he saw two particular names catch his interests

"Hold on, everyone! I think we can go home earlier today than we thought." He said smirking. "The Fullmetal Alchemist is onboard." He said.

* * *

~ **Moving Train ~ **

Rain, Alphonse and the other passengers were wary.

*SNORE*

_'I wonder how he can sleep through this.' _She thought. She looked at the guy next to their bench with his gun leaning on his shoulder casually.

"How can this brat sleep through all of this?" He asked his other guy that had his gun up to the other passengers and two military men.

Rain and Alphonse glanced at each and back at Edward silently pleading he wake up.

The man next to them apparently got tired of waiting and decided to take matters in his own hands.

"Hey! Wake up!" He poked him with the tip of the barrel of his shotgun.

Edward continued snoring loudly.

"Why you! Act more like a hostage, YOU LITTLE RUNT!" He yelled.

Edward's eyes snapped opened and he had two anime veins. He stood up and stomped his foot auto mail left foot on the ground. A dark aura surrounded him indicating he was pissed, but the two men ignored it.

He pointed his barrel at him again. "What? You got a problem or something? Huh?" He said.

Edward said nothing and clapped is hands on the tip of the gun. The familiar lightning sound filled the train car. His gun was transformed into a trumpet.

"Whoa! What the hell is this?!" He exclaimed as he examined his transformed gun. He couldn't continue, because Edward kicked him the face; officially knocking him unconscious.

Alphonse sighed and face palmed. Rain scratched the back of her head and warily glanced at the other man with the gun. He stalked toward Edward and pointed his gun to him.

"That was dumb, kid." He said. "We were ordered to kill all resisters. I don't want to shoot a runt like you, but-"

ALphonse stalked over and lifted the gun upward away from Edward. "Okay, okay. the two of you should just calm down." Alphonse exclaimed. Rain warily moved over to them slowly.

"What?! You want to fight us-" He started, but got a knee to his face.

Alphonse and the other passengers freaked out. Rain sighed and face palmed.

"YOU CALL ME A RUNT!? A DWARF? A LITTLE PERSON?!" Edward exclaimed as he continued to beat him. The passengers looked scared.

"Big brother! Big brother! If you don't stop, you'll kill him." Alphonse said; effectively stopped Edward from beating the man anymore.

Edward held the man still. He continued to glare at nothing and then turned to Alphonse and Rain.

"So, um…who are these guys?" Edward asked pointing to the unconscious man.

_'So he was just subconsciously reacting to the word "runt." ' _Alphonse thought while sighing.

"We should tie them up before they become conscious again." Rain said. Edward and Alphonse nodded. Edward transmuted rope for the two men and Alphonse helped him tie them up separately.

Edward kicked one of them awake. "Hey!" Ed said. The man roused awake.

"Are there more of you?" Ed asked as he pumped a fist into his opened hand.

"Besides us, there are two more in the engine room and four more in the class car guarding the general. There are four in the coach car standing guard in different locations."

"And the rest?" Ed asked sounding enthusiastic. Rain and Al sweat dropped.

"That's it! Really! There's no more!" The man said.

The passengers began to panicked. "There's still ten more of them." One of the men exclaimed. "What're you king to to do now? When they hear you beat up their men, they might come retaliate."

Al and Rain sighed.

"If somebody was more mature, this might ended peacefully." Al said.

Ed got irritated and exclaimed, "You can't move forward if you keep regretting the past! What's done is done. I'll go above. Al, you take them from below, alright? Rain, stay here by the passengers and keep them safe."

Rain looked away from nervous passengers toward Ed and Al. Ed winked and Al gave thumbs up. "Don't think we forgot what you did back at the mines." He said. Rain sweat dropped and nervously smiled. "Yes." She said.

"Go ahead and getting going you two." Rain said. Ed and Al nodded. Ed climbed up to the window to go up above.

"Wait, who are you guys?" One of the passengers asked.

Edward grinned. "We're alchemists." Ed said. He jumped out and then freaked and clung to the sides of the window.

"WHAO! WIND PRESSURE! WIND PRESSURE!" Ed yelled.

Alphonse sweat dropped. "How uncool" He said as he helped Ed up to the top. Al left shortly to make his way to the back of the train.

Rain looked up as her and the other passengers heard Ed run along the top to the front.

Rain proceeded to get the passengers to sit back down and try to stay calm.

~ **Alphonse POV ~**

Alphonse made his way toward the farther back train cars. He heard voices ahead and stopped by a door.

"Hey, weird. Our men in the rear aren't responding. I'll go check it out." One of the men said. "Alright."

Alphonse heard one of them get closer as he continued to ramble to himself. "Man, they're supposed to call in to report." He started, but stopped once he saw Al.

His jaw dropped and his cigarette fell from his mouth. Al looked down calmly.

"What the!" He started shooting and yelling. Al held a hand up to look like he's surrendering. "Wait! It's going to ricochet…I'm too late." He said as he looked at the guy in pain writhing on the floor when a bullet hit him in the knee.

"OW! AGH!" The man grasped his wounded knee.

Rushing footsteps came toward the two.

"Hey, what's!?" Alphonse sighed as the same thing happened to the man. He mumbled to himself, "Are you guys stupid?"

~ **Train car with General Hakuro ~ **

"Hey Bald. Contact with the rear car has ceased." One of the men said hold the phone. "What does that mean?" Another asked.

"There's someone on aboard." Bald said.

"That's ridiculous!" Another said. "We took care of all the guards and we've cut all communications to the outside. There's no way a passenger could call for help."

"Did one of us turn traitor?" One asked. "Couldn't be!" Another said in denial.

"Hmph. You're nothing but a bunch of trash. You fall apart as soon as your little plan starts to got wrong. Things aren't going how you want. Now's the time to start thinking about surrendering you slime." General Hakuro said.

Bald glared and shot part of his left ear off. Hakuro grasped his bleeding ear as Bald reloaded his auto-mail gunned arm.

"Don't speak until spoken to. Next time, the hole won't be so little." Bald said.

Hakuro's family surrounded him in worry and fear.

It got quiet when they all heard running footsteps above them. Bald started shooting upward until they heard a yelp.

"It's a rat. Go check above." Bald ordered one of his men. He nodded and left.

~ **Edward POV ~**

"Whoa! That was too close! If it weren't for my left leg, i would've been gone." Ed exclaimed as he took the bullet out of his auto-mail leg. "Dammit! Just you wait. He said. First, I'll recapture the engine room." Ed said as he stood up and headed in that direction.

He threw the bullet in the room to distract the two men watching the engine personal that kept the train going.

One of them men fell for his distraction and went to check out the bullet he threw.

"A bullet?" He asked. The other one standing looked at it in questioned.

"Where did that-" He never finished, because Edward jumped in and kicked face first into the pipe beside him efficiently knocking him out.

The other man turned around and readied his gun to fire. "Why you!" He was cut off too by a hit in the head with a shovel by one of them men that worked the engines. The two of them hit the guy until he passed out. Ed just stood there flabbergasted. They turned and gave him thumbs up. Ed responded and grinned. He headed out the window again to climb up the ladder.

The guy driving the train leaned against the window he climbed out. "Anything I can do?" He asked.

"Just drive safely please! Ed exclaimed and proceeded to climb up to the top. He looked ahead to see another one with a gun pointed at him.

"There you are, you rodent!" He said and opened fire. Ed ducked.

"That was dangerous you jerk!" He yelled and clapped his hands to make a cannon out of the coal in the cart he held onto. He fired a cannon on the guy, but he fell back in the train car.

The guy driving got angry. "Hey! What are you doing to the tender car?! That's got water and coal for the whole train." He yelled.

"Sorry!" Ed yelled back as he sat down onto of the cart. Ed thought for a moment. "Hmm? The tender car?" He knocked against the train car to hear a hollow with water underneath the coal.

**~ Train car with General Hakuro ~**

"Bald! That's no mouse. I don't know who he is, but there's some crazy guy up there." The one exclaimed that fell back into the train car; barely missing the cannon that was meant for him.

The guy behind Bald talked on the phone with another member of their group. "Hey, car no. 2! What's going on? Hey!" He exclaimed. All he got was, "Help..There's a huge suit of armor!" Then they heard screaming and silence.

A lightning noise interrupted the tense silence. Everyone looked to see a miniature trumpet speaker of Edward.

"What's that?" One asked.

"Hello, hello? Calling all hijackers! We We have recaptured the engine room and the rear cars. This car is the only one left. Please lay down your arms and let the hostages go. If not, we will have no choice but to use force." Ed said.

"What a joke! I don't know who you are but as long as we have the hostages, we'll never give up!" Bald exclaimed in anger.

"Oh my! You're still going to resist?" Ed asked. "Too bad. Talk's over." A water pipe was transmuted below the trumpet speaker.

"Is that a water pipe?" One asked as they all stared at the pipe in realization.

"All passengers, please take cover!" Ed exclaimed. He turned the switch and the water filled the car up.

Al opened the back and the men came pouring out while Bald was still inside the car.

Al smashed his fists together. "Welcome" He said with a sinister shadowed look.

"It's the big suit of armor." One of the men said in horror as the others gaped at Al.

Bald still inside the car stood up while soaked to the brim from the water.

"We're not through. We still got hostages!" He said. He turned toward the sound of a door opening to reveal Rain.

"Who are you wench?" He yelled in anger. Rain said nothing as Ed jumped down from above. Bald looked back and forth from between them.

Rain nodded toward Ed and he silently agreed. Bald turned to look at Rain who ran at him in a fast speed and she jumped up and grabbed his shoulder to help her wrap her legs around his head and used the momentum she used to jump over and flipped him over.

He slammed into the ground and she jumped off of him.

Bald got up. "You..You bitch!" He exclaimed and readied his auto-mail gun. Ed stepped in front of him.

"Well, well. someone else with an auto-mail arm?" He asked smirking. He transmuted part of his arm into his familiar arm sword. Bald stood there shocked, but then charged toward him. "You're just a little brat!" He yelled. He was about to shoot, but Ed beat him to it and struck his auto-mail in his.

"You know, you bought the cheaper model, didn't you?" He asked as Al came up from behind and grasped Bald's shoulder and punched him. Knocking him unconscious. Rain joined the two brothers as Ed restrained Bald.

* * *

The three stayed by Bald till they arrived at East Central. The station was filled some military personnel whom were waiting to take orders to go in and grab the hijackers.

Ed, Rain and Al left Bald to their care and went outside with the other passengers.

"Hey, Fullmetal." A voice from the side of them said.

Ed glared at him darkly while Al perked up at seeing him and Rain gazed at him. "Oh, hello Colonel." Al said politely.

Colonel glanced at Ed. "You still don't like me huh?" He asked smirking. He noticed Ed's auto-mail arm. "I guess you're still not back to normal." he stated simply.

He glanced down and then bought his auto-mail fist up. "I'm researching the ancient texts, but nothing yet. I pulled an all nighter the other night. right now we've been searching east city, but we still haven't found anything that might work." Ed said.

Al glanced at Rain who stood behind watching Ed and Colonel interact. "Oh, colonel." Al said getting his attention. "We have a new friend." Al said as he lightly gave Rain a nudge to stand in front of him.

"Pleasure to meet you." Rain said as she nodded. Colonel nodded back. "Likewise. Where did you find her?" He asked as him and his Lieutenant looked over Rain.

"Back when we stopped that Priest." Ed said.

Colonel smirked. "Now that I think about it, I've heard the rumors. It seems you're causing quite a commotion." He said.

Ed gave him an irritated look. "I guess you're nosy as ever." He said.

"Frankly, it's not hard to hear about you." Colonel said giving him a casual hand gesture to emphasize.

A commotion stopped their talking as they all looked to see a dead soldier and a wounded soldier that were in charged of restraining Bald.

He looked furious and held his auto-mail arm to reveal a knife hidden.

"Whoa." Ed said. _'He had a knife hidden.' _Ed thought.

Lieutenant stepped forward. "Please stay back, Colonel." She said.

Colonel held a hand to stop her. "I'll take care of this." He said smirking as he raised a gloved hand.

Bald gave a cry and charged forward toward him.

Colonel raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Sparks flew from his gloved hand and a burst of fire exploded in front of Bald, making him fall backwards with smoke coming off of him.

Colonel went over to stand in front of him with pride of his alchemy.

Two officers rushed to restrained him.

"I took it easy on you. If you try to resist again, I'll turn you into ash, got it?" Colonel questioned.

"You damn bastard! Who the hell are you?!" Bald exclaimed.

"Roy Mustang. Rank: Colonel. And one more thing. I'm the "Flame Alchemist." Don't forget that." Colonel Roy said as he fixed his collar of his military uniform.


End file.
